


I'm Your Partner

by markwatneyandensemble



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 05:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markwatneyandensemble/pseuds/markwatneyandensemble
Summary: "It's cold, you should take my coat." Prompt





	I'm Your Partner

Her voice was still hoarse from the day before, and she was becoming increasingly more pissed that she’d made an entire thermos of green tea with honey and walked out the door, leaving it forgotten on the counter. Said anger now fueled more by the freezing temperature, and her lack of gloves and a hat.

The light had faded hours ago, and Scully could barely make out the colors of individual cars in the glow of the dim streetlights, let alone which one was Mulder’s.

_Damn him._

He was so sure of this goddamn stakeout, and he couldn’t even call to tell her where he parked the car. Eventually, after ten solid minutes wandering up and down the block, wishing she had a scarf to strangle him with, she spotted a familiar profile in the drivers seat of a dark sedan across the street.

* * *

She slid inside the car as quickly as she could, realizing immediately that her attempt to keep the warm air inside was useless.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, his voice as hoarse as hers was. “I would have waved or something, but…”  _Right. Stakeout._

She shook her head, not caring what he was saying as she leaned forward, and fiddled with the heater.  _Why the hell wasn’t it on._

“It’s broken,” he explained.  _No shit, Mulder_. “I think Toby down at the auto pool is still pissed I spilled coffee all over that Taurus a few weeks ago.”

She looked up at him, with steam damn near coming out of her ears. “Why didn’t you trade it in when you realized it.”

“I was running late. There weren’t a lot of cars left. If it bothers you so much, I can stay here alone.”

She glared at him, knowing he could barely see her through the darkness, and slumped back in her seat, stuffing her hands under her legs for some semblance of warmth.

“Scully, really. I’m okay staying here alone.”  _Yeah. Clearly. We both know how much you hate being stuck with me tagging along._

“I’m fine.” She ground her teeth, and stared ahead, and the entrance to that skeevy bar.

* * *

Minutes passed, and her anger grew.  _Damn him. Really. Why was she even here? Clearly driving him goddamn nuts, stuck on some goddamn case she only knows half the goddamn details of. In the goddamn freezing cold._

Hours passed, and slummy guys in leather jackets or trench coats came and left the door, but there was no sign of the man in the picture Mulder shoved in her face the night before. It was a flimsy lead, in a case that wasn’t even supposed to be theirs, but after an hour spent last night, revving up to a full-blown screaming match, here they were, sitting in the cold, listening to her teeth chatter, and stewing in each their own anger.

“I can’t take this,” Mulder grumbled, unzipping his coat, and beginning to shrug it off. “It’s cold, you should take my jacket.”

“Mulder, no. I’m not taking your coat.”

“It’s freezing-“

“And you’ll be cold too.”

He pulled it back on and sighed deeply. “What did I do, Scully.”

His tone was less defeated, more bitter towards her demeanor.

She shook her head, not looking away from some couple, talking closely in the warm glow of the bar door.

“Is it the cold? Is it this case? What?” he pressed on.

“You only want this thing because it’s a follow up to a case *she* worked. This is pointless, this stakeout is a shot in the dark. I don’t even get why we’re here.”

There was a lump forming in Scully’s throat that she wasn’t about to analyze. That signature. That goddamn signature on the bottom of that file Mulder threw in her face. Started with a loopy “D", the last “a” leading a trail to the capital “F”, and finishing with a fancy “y” with an extra curl for flare. That goddamn signature. It was like gasoline on their fiery argument.

He spoke through clenched teeth, knowing as well as she did they couldn’t have another round of the night before. Not without jeopardizing their cover. “We went over this. I want this case because our guy was arrested two weeks ago for breaking into an apartment of some hitman who had ties to Cancer man and his buddies. A hitman that got killed not twelve hours after the break-in and arrest. I just want to know what he found.”

“And did it occur to you why that case wasn’t solved? If it was such an important lead, why didn’t Agent Fowley follow up with it? If she was as intent on finding the truth as you, wouldn’t she have pursued it until she dropped? Mulder, I’m not debating that this case is important. I’m debating the significance of our arbitrary burglar.” She could practically hear his jaw clenching from across the divide.

“It’s a lead. We’re investigators, and so we’re following up on it. He’ll show.”

“This is a red herring, Mulder. The only reason this guy was highlighted in the case file so many times is to throw you off the real trail.“

Mulder, for the first time, did not take her bait. He sat there, silent and sturdy, eyes locked on the couple by the bar, who had now begun to warm up in their own way.

Minutes ticked by, feeling like hours. Mulder turned on the crappy, old radio at one point, and they listened to some baseball game through the static. They were somewhere in the “sev-th inn-ig” when Mulder spoke, his voice low and calm.

“I know you think this is just a bad lead. That the break-in was a coincidence because the guy we’re looking for was a suspect in half a dozen other ones. But I don’t think so. And not because of your baseless accusations, or for whatever reason your jealousy is crediting. It’s a lead. A real one. One that I really could use your unbiased, scientific help on. If this guy shows at his brother’s bar, his arrest could help us answer a lot of questions.” He glanced over at her, and she saw sincerity in his eyes, despite how bitter they’d been towards each other the last few days.

Her jaw slackened, and her shoulders began to relax, but she said nothing. They sat for another half hour in silence, save for the crackly broadcast, and her cold shivering vibrating through her body.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not taking her eyes off the door to look at him.

“Me too,” he mumbled back.

Another beat of silence, that was interrupted by the sound of a zipper.  She glanced over at him, the little light from the bar illuminating him as he tried to stealthily slide his jacket off.

“Mulder, you don’t have to-“

He shook his head, giving her a warm smile for the first time in days.

He pulled his coat off, and leaned over to spread it over her like a blanket.

“Mulder-“

“I still have a jacket.” He pinched the shoulder of his leather jacket to indicate.

“I can’t-“

“Just warm up a little, Scully. Please.”

She glanced up at him, seeing that he’d returned to staring at the door, where three men huddled close together smoking. He sat with his hands tucked beneath his arms, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned. She smiled at him, knowing he couldn’t see it. His eyes never moved, but, as if he could feel her staring, his cheeks moved, and he smiled wider.

Something fluttered in the pit of her stomach, and she immediately turned away from him, slumping down in her seat, letting his coat cover her up to her chin and the residue of his cologne fill her nose.

 

* * *

 

The stakeout ended up being a bust, with no sign of their man anywhere near that bar. Long after the lights went dark inside, and the brother locked the door and left, they finally called it, and left themselves. Despite being four blocks away, Mulder drove her home, and only took back his coat when she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Sorry to make you sit out in the cold for so long, Scully.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. It was important.” There were a thousand other things she wanted to say strung between those last three words, and he gave her a smile.

He opened his mouth, but abruptly closed it. She knew what he was going to say. The same thing that he always said after a case she didn’t see the point in.  _Thanks for coming out there with me._

But there was an unspoken answer that filled the air, following the retracted line.  _Of course. I’m your partner._

She gave him another small smile, before getting out of the car, feeling his eyes on her back until she was safely inside the building.


End file.
